A trip to Tuscany-Pisa

In the last week of November I took five days of vacation to visit my cousin Konrad in Siena. He is currently doing his Erasmus there and I thought this would be a chance to see more of Italy. In the end, I'm going to Siena became more like I'm diving into Tuscany. We used the time and saw very different places in Tuscany.

Siena doesn't have its own airport, so my first destination of the trip was Pisa. I left the house at half past five in the morning to be in Pisa by half past 12. In the late afternoon we took the bus to Siena, so I had a good five hours.

Pisa isn't too big, which means it's easy to walk from the airport into the city. It was a nice walk through the residential areas of Pisa. In total it took half an hour to get to this intersection "at the beginning of the city center".

I love the architecture in Italy, the houses painted in bright colors. Often in warm yellow, orange and red tones, the houses are built so close together that you often only have narrow streets or narrow alleys to move between. However, it stays quite cool between the houses in the warm summer months.

Italy is not only known for pasta and pizza, but also for good ice cream. And of course I treated myself to some. Try as many different varieties as possible. Here lemon and dark chocolate. Was delicious!

Oh, a roof terrace would be nice.

And then it was time. Suddenly I found myself standing in front of the leaning tower of Pisa. Probably the most famous landmark in the city. It took a total of 199 years to complete the tower's construction.
The tower serves as the cathedral's free-standing bell tower. After the first 12 years, construction work was interrupted for 100 years due to the imbalance. To compensate for the tilt, the next four floors were placed on top of the first three with a smaller angle of inclination. In order to add the last floor, the bell floor, there was another break in construction. It was then completed in 1372. Today it is a world cultural heritage site with the cathedral, the baptistery and the camposanto (cemetery).

Like the bell tower, the cathedral is made of Carrara marble and its façade is coordinated with the tower.

Many details and decorations decorate the exterior facade. Unfortunately I didn't get to see the inside of the cathedral, but it was also beautiful from the outside. It is considered a model for other cathedrals in Tuscany, for example the cathedral in Siena or Florence.

After a short stroll through the streets of Pisa, it was time to say goodbye. On my last day I came through Pisa again, almost racing to get to the airport on time. Pisa is very famous for its leaning tower and is really worth seeing, but I have to say that a day trip is enough, at least to see all the main attractions.
Another half hour walk took me to the bus station and my Flixbus. After a leisurely drive, which I really enjoyed after a lot of walking and some lack of sleep, I arrived in Siena in the evening.